‘⁠Another round⁠’ and the eternal return

Four days into shooting the movie, Ida Vinterberg — the director’s daughter — died in a car accident. The movie was made, none the less. As Thomas Vinterberg explained: ‘⁠It didn’t make sense to continue, but it didn’t make sense not to continue.⁠’ So he continued. And what was planned to be a loveletter to drinking ended up being a celebration of life: bitter and painful, but full of love.

As Mads dances on a seashore, the urge for chaos and the desire to live that had been canned up for far too long start coming out. And with a toss of a can, it seems, we can — even if for a brief moment — embrace all the good and all the bad, not just as necessary but as one and the same. As Mads dances on a seashore, all the pain and all the joy become too sharp, too undeniable, and yet, somehow, ‘⁠one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.⁠’